British/Irish pianist Nicholas Ross is Associate Professor of Music at Sweet Briar College, where he teaches applied piano, music theory and music history. He performs extensively in Europe and the United States, both as soloist and chamber musician. As the pianist of the James Piano Quartet, he performs with Jana Ross, violin, Joe Nigro, viola, and Wesley Baldwin, cello. The JPQ are touring artists on the roster of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and they perform throughout Virginia. This season includes performances in Roanoke, Abingdon, Virginia Beach, and Lynchburg. The JPQ are Artists-in-Residence at Sweet Briar College, where they give three annual concerts - free and open to the public - thanks to the generous support of the college. They are also Artists-in-Residence at the burgeoning Wintergreen Summer Music Festival - where Ross also performed with the Wintergreen Chamber Players during the past two summers. This academic year the JPQ will make their debut recording of chamber music by Artur Honegger, and next year they will perform and record Brahms’ series of three epochal piano quartets. They are also involved in commissioning and performing new works. This year, compositions are being written for them by Jonathan Green, Joelle Wallach, and Kent Holliday, and they will also perform works by Nathan Currier and Michael White.

Ross is also active as a solo pianist. Recent concerts included solo recitals at Mary Baldwin College, Virginia Tech, and Sweet Briar College in Virginia; and concerto performances with the Blue Ridge Chamber Orchestra, and New River Valley Orchestra. His first solo CD American Impressions: Music from the Whalehead Club, recorded on an historic 1907 Steinway, was released on the Soundside label in 2003. Ross was also featured as piano soloist on the Denver Theatre Company?s video The Arts Matter, which was intended to prevent proposed cuts to the Arts in Colorado. His latest and first internationally released recording, John Powell: Early Piano Music, (Centaur Records, 2007), was described as "both surprising and highly enjoyable" by critic Uncle Dave Lewis (AllMusic.com) and Ross’s performance was praised as "dedicated, clean and forthright, no small feat as some of the music […] is written at a treacherously difficult level". William Keindler of Music Web International wrote of the recording: "Nicholas Ross’s playing and advocacy [of John Powell] are both to be applauded. He handles the entire range of emotional and technical expertise required by these works almost effortlessly." The American Record Guide selected the recording for its list ‘best of 2007’ and the disc has been played frequently on classical NPR stations around the country. Ross is currently preparing a recording of the piano music of Virginia Tech composer Kent Holliday with Randolph College' Dr. Emily Chua, under Dr. Holliday's guidance. This recording will include Milongalgusto, written and dedicated to Ross in 2006.

Apart from his performing interests, Dr. Ross is also involved in scholarly research focusing on a range of topics. In particular he is interested in the use of proportional structures in the music of Claude Debussy. He has uncovered the original use of Fibonacci series and golden section in the construction of Debussy's Images (expanding upon and modifying the earlier work of famed Debussy scholar, Roy Howat), and is currently extending his research to examine Debussy's songs.

Ross earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and also holds degrees in piano performance from the Twente Conservatoire (UM) in Holland and Trinity College of Music in London (DipTCL), as well as a Masters degree in Applied Mathematics from Twente University. His primary piano professors were Benno Pierweijer, John Bingham, and John Perry. As a student he won many prizes and awards at Trinity College of Music in London, and he also won the Robert Meyer-English Speaking Union Scholarship (which enabled him to study at the Aspen Music festival).